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The Liberal government of Kathleen Wynne came to power partly on a promise to bring pensions to the masses.

Their election platform last year promised to plug the holes for people who don’t have adequate retirement security.

But some investment experts and opposition critics want more details.

They say far from helping save for retirement, the new plan could actually hurt people who are already socking away money for their golden years.

The goal posts keep changing. When the Ontario Retirement Pension Plan (ORPP) was first proposed, it was expected companies with defined contribution (DC) or employer-supported RRSP plans would be exempt.

That now seems untrue, says Katie Walmsley, president of the Portfolio Management Association of Canada.

“Our main ask of the government is that they consider including DC plans as comparable plans because of the huge disruption it’s going to cause for both employees and employers,” she said.

There are roughly 400,000 employees in Ontario in defined contribution plans. In most of those plans, the amount contributed by the employer is significantly more than the 1.9% that would be required under the provincial government plan.

“A typical DC plan or group RRSP plan would be between 3%-6% contribution, with the employer putting money in and the employee matching,” Walmsley said.

If companies with DC and RRSP plans are not exempt from the ORPP, the Ontario-only plan will present problems for large companies that operate across Canada.

“They’re going to have to figure out whether they’ll still provide these plans to the Ontario employees,” she said — otherwise they’ll have problems equalizing benefits for employees across the country.

Employees in this province would have a 1.9% contribution on top of whatever plan they’re already contributing to.

“Do they reduce what they’re contributing because they’re paying into the Ontario plan?” Walmsley said.

Her organization represents more than 200 investment management firms who manage more than $1 trillion in assets.